Method and apparatus of supporting wireless femtocell clusters

ABSTRACT

A method of operating a femtocell network cluster is disclosed. One example method of operating the femtocell network cluster may include certain operations, such as, selecting a master femtocell access point among various femtocell access points operating on the femtocell network cluster and updating a master table to include the master femtocell access point in the master table neighbor list. Other operations may include transmitting the master table to each of the femtocell access points informing them of the identity of the master femtocell access point. The tables may be maintained by all of the femtocell access points operating on the network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit to provisional application 61/374,017,entitled “Femto Cell Cluster”, filed on Aug. 16, 2010, the entirecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus of establishing afemtocell cluster, and, more particularly to establishing andmaintaining communications among one ore more femtocell access points(FAPs).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Communication network systems are commonly deployed over a widegeographic area. Femtocells may be deployed to provide licensed spectrumcellular systems within tightly constrained geographic areas. Femtocellsnormally cover a space as small as a room within a building, a smallhome and/or a business location. Femtocells are typically designed toprovide service areas of 100-1000 square meters, while macrocellsnormally cover areas on the order of 10-100 square kilometers, andmicrocells cover 1-10 square kilometers, and picocells cover10,000-100,000 square meters.

Femtocell network deployments are not significantly structured orpreplanned. Rather, these networks often comprise a plurality of ad-hocfemtocell deployments. The simple femtocell configuration allows thefemtocell networks to adapt to meet the requirements of many differentdeployment environments. For example, some networks might scale to onemillion femtocells, any of which might enter or leave the network at anytime.

Communication signaling between mobile stations (MSs) and femtocellaccess point (FAPs) may include various techniques to ensure the MS isproperly registered with the femtocell and is in communication with anappropriate FAP. Neighbor cells and clusters may be used to organize afemtocell communication environment. Registering a MS with a femtocellcluster of FAPs may require pre-planning and neighbor list sharing toensure optimized network communications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One example embodiment of the present invention may include a method ofoperating a femtocell network cluster. The method may include selectinga master femtocell access point among a plurality of femtocell accesspoints operating on the femtocell network cluster. The method may alsoinclude updating a master table to include the master femtocell accesspoint in the master table neighbor list, and transmitting the mastertable to each of the plurality of femtocell access points informing themof the identity of the master femtocell access point.

Another example embodiment of the present invention may include anapparatus configured to operate a femtocell network cluster. Theapparatus may include a processor configured to select a masterfemtocell access point among a plurality of femtocell access pointsoperating on the femtocell network cluster, and to update a master tableto include the master femtocell access point in the master tableneighbor list. The apparatus may also include a transmitter configuredto transmit the master table to each of the plurality of femtocellaccess points informing them of the identity of the master femtocellaccess point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network signaling chart for a soft-addhandoff and soft-drop handoff procedure, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example network configuration of cluster creationamong a plurality of network devices, according to example embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example network configuration of adding networkelements to an existing cluster, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example network configuration of removing networkelements from an existing cluster, according to example embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example network configuration of switching acluster master, according to example embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example network configuration of changing acluster master network address, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example network configuration of changing acluster member network address, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example network configuration of rejecting acluster registration request, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example network configuration of handling anunreachable cluster master, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example network configuration of a handofffailure, according to example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example network configuration of managingconfiguration settings by a cluster master, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example flow diagram of a method according toexample embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example network entity, receiver and/ortransmitter configured to store software instructions and performexample operations disclosed throughout the specification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein,may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following detailed description of theembodiments of a method, apparatus, and system, as represented in theattached figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention asclaimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of theinvention.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the invention describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “exampleembodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language, throughoutthis specification refers to the fact that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentmay be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention.Thus, appearances of the phrases “example embodiments”, “in someembodiments”, “in other embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the samegroup of embodiments, and the described features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” has been used in the descriptionof embodiments of the present invention, the invention may be applied tomany types of network data, such as packet, frame, datagram, etc. Forpurposes of this invention, the term “message” also includes packet,frame, datagram, and any equivalents thereof. Furthermore, while certaintypes of messages and signaling are depicted in exemplary embodiments ofthe invention, the invention is not limited to a certain type ofmessage, and the invention is not limited to a certain type ofsignaling.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication flow of data signaling,according to example embodiments of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 1, a mobile station (MS) 101 is in communication with one or morefemtocell access points (FAPs). A FAP cluster is defined as two or moreFAPs supporting soft handoff capabilities using the local networkconnection. In order to provide data authentication, integrity, andconfidentiality, signaling and traffic packets at a FAP would comethrough an IPSec tunnel and security gateway (not shown). However, thefrequent soft handoffs may cause network overhead and packet delay.Creating a femtocell cluster in a secure internal or dedicated network,the FAPs operating in the cluster may communicate directly may providenot communicating via IPSec. This may reduce the amount of overheadcreated in the cluster.

FIG. 1 illustrates a MS 101 communicating with FAP1 and FAP2 in afemtocell cluster configuration to perform a soft-add handoff 100. Thesoft-add handoff may be used to add the MS 101 to the femtocell network.A pilot strength measurement message 110 may be transmitted from the MS101 to the FAP1 102, which determines that the FAP2 103 pilot signal isstrong enough to enter an active set. A traffic channel allocationrequest 111 may be sent from the FAP1 102 to the FAP2 103, whichresponds with a traffic channel allocation response 112. A handoffdirection message 113 may be sent from the FAP1 to the MS 101 indicatingthat the FAP2 pilot is now an active set as well as the FAP1 pilot. Ahandoff completion message 114 may be communicated from the MS 101 tothe FAP1 and the FAP2. A neighbor list update message 116 may be sent toall nodes in the network to update a table of nodes currently availablein the cluster network. The update may reflect that the MS 101 as addedto the network.

A soft-drop handoff 120 is also illustrated in FIG. 1. This proceduremay be performed by the MS 101 transmitting a pilot strength measurementmessage 121 to the FAP 1 and/or the FAP2. In response, a message,indicating that the FAP1 pilot is weak enough to enter the neighbor setmay be returned indicating that a soft-drop should be performed. Ahandoff direction message 122 may be sent back to the MS 101 indicatingthat only the FAP2 pilot is the active set. A handoff completion message123 may be transmitted from the MS 101 to the FAP1 and/or the FAP2 alongwith confirmations responses from one or more of the network elements. Ade-allocation of the FAP1 traffic channel element may be performed and aneighbor list update message 124 may be transferred to the other networkelements to reflect the changes. This procedure may move the MS 101 fromone FAP to another FAP, or, to drop the MS 101 from the networkcommunications altogether.

A FAP as illustrated in the various figures of the present application,may have a regular neighbor cell list in which cells interface via anIPSec tunnel, as well as a cluster neighbor cell list in which cellsinterface directly. Cluster neighbor cells should be managed separatelyfrom the regular neighbor cells since the clustering is an add-onfeature. However, the overhead or in-traffic neighbor list messages toMSs should include the regular neighbor cells as well as the clusterneighbor cells since MSs do not need to know whether a cell is includedin the regular neighbor list or cluster neighbor list.

When a MS sends a pilot strength measurement message (PSMM) to the FAP,the FAP will check the regular neighbor list first to find a mappingcell for the pseudo-noise (PN) in the PSMM message, and for any cellsthat are not found, then a check may be performed to check the clusterneighbor list. If a mapped cell is found in the cluster neighbor list,the base station (BS) sends the traffic channel element allocationrequest message to the target cell directly using local IP addressesobtained from the cluster neighbor list.

When the target cell receives the traffic channel element allocationrequest message, it may store the serving IP address, allocate thenecessary resources, and respond to the message with the results and theresource information. If the result is successful, the serving FAP mayprocess the remaining handoff procedure via the local network. If theFAP receives the handoff complete message from the MS, it willcommunicate with the MS via the traffic channel at the serving FAP aswell as at the target FAP using the local network.

As described in detail below, various network configurations andoperating procedures are described with reference to FIGS. 2-11. Theseexample network configurations and related procedures are not intendedto be exhaustive and represent some of the basic communication signalingand response procedures commonly associated with femtocell clusternetwork communications.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example cluster creation network configuration,according to example embodiments of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 2, various network elements are included in a communication networkoften associated with a cluster group. A security gateway 201 providesaccess to a femtocell station modem (eFSM 202) or configuration serverwhich communicates with each of the eFAPs 210, 211 and 212 of thecluster group A. Access to the cluster group A may also be providedthrough a firewall 203 which connects over the Internet to a router 208and switch 209. Another cluster B is illustrated for example purposeswhich includes its own eFAP master 206 and eFAP 207. Access to cluster Bmay also be provided through a router 204 and switch 205.

In operation, cluster creation may be performed by sending an eFAPmaster selection message from eFSM 202 to eFAP #1 master 210 byconfiguring eFAP 210 to have IP address 192.xxx.xxx.100, clusterID=cluster group A (CGA), and setting the IPsec-IP to 128.xxx.xxx.xxx. Amessage may be sent from eFSM 202 to eFAP #2 211 to set the master IPaddress to 192.xxx.xxx.100, cluster ID=cluster group A (CGA), andsetting the IPsec-IP to 129.xxx.xxx.xxx, and, similarly, a message maybe sent to eFAP #3 212 to set the master IP address to 192.xxx.xxx.100,cluster ID=cluster group A (CGA), and setting the IPsec-IP to130.xxx.xxx.xxx. The IP addresses of eFAP #1, #2 and #3 may be, forexample, 192.xxx.xxx.100, 192.xxx.xxx.101 and 192.xxx.xxx.102,respectively.

Once the eFAPs are setup through the eFSM 202, eFAP #2 may register withthe master eFAP #1 and receive a neighbor list based on a clustermaster/slave table maintained by the eFAP #1 master. Similarly, eFAP #3may register with the master eFAP #1 and receive a neighbor list withthree entries, representing eFAPs #1-#3. A synchronization update may beperformed between one or more of the eFAPS #1-#3 to reflect any updatesmade to the latest cluster table and its respective entries.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes adding a new eFAP, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 3, various network elements areincluded in a communication network often associated with a clustergroup. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303 and eFAPs 310-313 may bepart of the cluster group. As noted above with respect to cluster groupA, a master eFAP #1 310, and slave eFAPs 311 and 312 are established asCGA. In this example, a new eFAP #4, 313 may be added to the CGA.

In order to add a new eFAP #4, the eFSM 301 informs the eFAP #4 aboutthe master IP (local IP) address 192.xxx.xxx.100 and the cluster group A(CGA). The eFAP #4 then initiates contact with the eFAP #1 master 310 bytransmitting a register message to the eFAP #1 master 310, whichresponds to eFAP #4 313 by updating the present table and transmitting aneighbor list table to eFAP #4 313 identifying eFAP #4 313 as the fourtheFAP in the table. Generally, the master and slave tables are the same.A synchronization message may be sent between the eFAP #1 master andeFAP #2 and #3 slaves. The message may be sent by transmitting themessage from the eFAP master #1 to the eFAP #2 and eFAP #3, or, themessage may be transferred from the eFAP #1 to eFAP #2, which forwardsthe table from eFAP #2 onto eFAP #3. Table 1.1 illustrates the clustermaster/slave table prior to registering eFAP #4 and Table 1.2illustrates the cluster master/slave table after eFAP #4 registration.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes removing an eFAP, according to example embodiments of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 4, various network elements areincluded in a communication network often associated with a clustergroup. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303 and eFAPs 310-313 may bepart of the cluster group. As noted above with respect to cluster groupA, a master eFAP #1 310, and slave eFAPs 311, 312 and 313 areestablished as CGA. In this example, an eFAP #4 313 will be removed fromthe CGA.

During the removal procedure, the eFSM 301 informs eFAP #4 that themaster IP is 0.0.0.0 (an empty string) and the cluster group is CGO(group none). The eFAP #4 313 transmits an un-register message to eFAP#1 master 310, which performs a table update and a synchronizationmessage is transmitted to the other eFAPs #2 and #3. Tables 2.1 and 2.2reflect the before and after result of cluster master/slave table beingupdated to reflect the removal of eFAP #4.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes changing the cluster master, according to example embodimentsof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, various network elementsare included in a communication network often associated with thecluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303 and eFAPs 310-312may be part of the cluster group. As noted above with respect to clustergroup A, a master eFAP #1 310, and slave eFAPs 311 and 312 areestablished as part of CGA. In this example, eFAP #1 310 will be demotedas the former master and the eFAP #2 311 will become the new master.

In operation, the eFSM 301 sets eFAP #2 as the new master and sends thecluster group IP cluster group C (CGC) and IPsec 140.xxx.xxx.xxx to thenew master eFSM #2 311. the eFSM 301 sends a message to eFAP #1 310 thatthe IP address of the master is now 192.xxx.xxx.101 and the cluster IDis CGC. eFAP #1 switches to slave mode and resets the table.Registration with the new master eFAP #2 is performed by both eFAP #1and eFAP #3 and updated tables are sent to eFAP #1 and eFAP #3 frommaster eFAP #2. Periodic synchronization messages are sent from mastereFAP #2 to each of the slaves eFAP #1 and eFAP #3. Tables 3.1 and 3.2illustrate the changes made to reflect the change in the master eFAP.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes changing the cluster master's IP address, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, variousnetwork elements are included in a communication network oftenassociated with a cluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303and eFAPs 310-312 may be part of the cluster group. As noted above withrespect to cluster group C, a master eFAP #2 310, and slave eFAPs 310and 312 are established as part of CGC. In this example, eFAP master #2311 will have its IP address of 192.xxx.xxx.101 changed to192.xxx.xxx.200.

In operation, master eFAP #2 sends an IP address change notification tothe eFSM 301, which informs the other eFAPS #1 and #3 that the newmaster IP address of eFAP #2 is 192.xxx.xxx.200 and the cluster ID isCGC. Each of the eFAPs will reset the current cluster table informationin their locally stored cluster tables. The eFAP #1 will register withthe master eFAP #2, which will update the new table to reflect the IPaddress change and send the new table back to eFAP #1. Similarly, eFAP#3 will register and receive an updated table from master eFAP #2.Periodically, master eFAP #2 will perform a synchronization that sendsthe updated cluster table to the other eFAPs #1 and/or #3. Table 4.1illustrates the IP addresses before the change and Table 4.2 illustratesthe tables after the change.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes changing a cluster member's IP address, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 7, variousnetwork elements are included in a communication network oftenassociated with a cluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303and eFAPs 310-312 may be part of the cluster group. As noted above withrespect to cluster group C, a master eFAP #2 311, and slave eFAPs 310and 312 are established as part of the CGC. In this example, eFAP #3 312will have its IP address of 192.xxx.xxx.102 changed to 192.xxx.xxx.201.

In operation, eFAP #3 sends an IP address change notification to theeFSM 301 and the eFAP master #2, which updates the table to reflect thatthe new IP address of eFAP #3 is 192.xxx.xxx.201. Each of the eFAPs willreset the current cluster table information in their locally storedcluster tables. The master eFAP #2 will send the updated cluster tableto the eFAP #3. Periodically, master eFAP #2 will perform asynchronization that sends the updated cluster table to the other eFAPs#1 and/or #3. Table 5.1 illustrates the IP addresses before the changeand Table 5.2 illustrates the table after the change.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes a master eFAP rejecting a new eFAP registration, according toexample embodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8,various network elements are included in a communication network oftenassociated with a cluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303and eFAPs 310-312 may be part of the cluster group. In this example forcluster group C, a master eFAP #2 311, and slave eFAPs 310 and 312-314are established as part of the CGC. In this example, eFAP #6 315 willhave its registration request denied.

In operation, eFAP #6 315 attempts to register to eFAP master #2 311 bysending a register message to eFAP master #2. Prior to registration, theeFSM 301 may send an eFAP master IP address to eFAP #6. The eFAP master#2 may perform a lookup operation to determine if an available entry ispresent in the table. If the table is full, the eFAP master #2 may senda deny registration message to the eFAP #6 315. This may cause therejected eFAP #6 to raise an alarm indicating that the registration isunsuccessful, which may cause a periodic re-registration procedure to beinitiated until a successful registration is completed.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes a failed attempt to reach the master eFAP, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 9, variousnetwork elements are included in a communication network oftenassociated with a cluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303and eFAPs 310-314 are illustrated as part of the cluster group. In thisexample for cluster group C, a master eFAP #2 311, and slave eFAPs 310and 312-314 are established as part of the CGC. In this example, eFAP #3312 will fail to establish communication with master eFAP #2.

In operation, eFAP #3 312 attempts to communicated with master eFAP #2311 by sending a message to eFAP master #2. The eFAP master #2 may beunreachable and may fail to respond to the message sent from eFAP #3.This may cause the eFAP #3 to raise an alarm indicating that the mastereFAP #3 is unreachable, which may cause a broadcast message to be sentto all eFAPs to raise an alarm until communication is re-establishedbetween any of the eFAP slaves and the master eFAP.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes a failed attempt to handoff an eFAP, according to exampleembodiments of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 10, variousnetwork elements are included in a communication network oftenassociated with a cluster group. An eFSM 301, a router 302, a switch 303and eFAPs 310-314 are illustrated as part of the cluster group. In thisexample for cluster group C, a master eFAP #2 311, and slave eFAPs 310and 312-314 are established as part of the CGC. In this example, eFAP #3312 will handoff to eFAP #1, however, eFAP #1 will fail to handoff tomaster eFAP #2 311.

In operation, eFAP #3 312 attempts to handoff the eFAP #1 and issuccessful. However, in attempting to handoff from eFAP #1 to the mastereFAP #2 311 a failure occurs. The eFAP #1 will then create a handofffailure alarm, which may cause handoff re-attempts to periodically occuruntil the handoff to the master eFAP #1 is successful. When the handoffdoes occur, the alarm may be terminated.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example cluster network configuration thatincludes the master eFAP controlling the configurations of each of theeFAPs, according to example embodiments of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 11, various network elements are included in acommunication network often associated with a cluster group. An eFSM301, a router 302, a switch 303 and eFAPs 310-314 are illustrated aspart of the cluster group. In this example for cluster group C, a mastereFAP #2 311, and slave eFAPs 310 and 312-314 are established as CGC. Inthis example, eFAP master #2 311 controls the configurations of each ofthe slave eFAPs 310 and 312-314.

In operation, master eFAP #2 312 will establish a PN value, such as,PN=40 and a operational frequency, such as, 1025 for a first eFAP #1310. Other eFAPs #3, #4, #5, may be setup to operate at PN values of 44,48, 52. This offset of “4” may provide optimal communication signalingdepending on the environment and size of the femtocell. The master eFAP#2 311 may receive signals transmitted from the slave eFAPs anddetermine if the PN values or frequency should be modified based on thereceived signal quality of signals received (i.e., SNR, power levels,etc.).

The operations of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in acomputer program executed by a processor, or in a combination of thetwo. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example FIG. 13 illustrates an example network element 1300, whichmay represent any of the above-described network components 101, 102,103, 201-212, 301-303 and 310-315.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, a memory 1310 and a processor 1320 may bediscrete components of the network entity 1300 that are used to executean application or set of operations. The application may be coded insoftware in a computer language understood by the processor 1320, andstored in a computer readable medium, such as, the memory 1310. Thecomputer readable medium may be a non-transitory computer readablemedium that includes tangible hardware components in addition tosoftware stored in memory. Furthermore, a software module 1330 may beanother discrete entity that is part of the network entity 1300, andwhich contains software instructions that may be executed by theprocessor 1320. In addition to the above noted components of the networkentity 1300, the network entity 1300 may also have a transmitter andreceiver pair configured to receive and transmit communication signals(not shown).

One example method of the present invention may include a method ofoperating a femtocell network cluster, as illustrated in FIG. 12. Themethod may include selecting a master femtocell access point among aplurality of femtocell access points operating on the femtocell networkcluster, at operation 1201. The method may also include updating amaster table to include the master femtocell access point in the mastertable neighbor list, at operation 1202. The method may further includetransmitting the master table to each of the plurality of femtocellaccess points informing them of the identity of the master femtocellaccess point, at operation 1203.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solelyby the appended claims when considered with a full range of equivalentsand modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices, software platformsetc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a femtocell networkcluster, the method comprising: selecting a master femtocell accesspoint among a plurality of femtocell access points operating on thefemtocell network cluster; updating a master table to include the masterfemtocell access point in the master table neighbor list; andtransmitting the master table to each of the plurality of femtocellaccess points informing them of the identity of the master femtocellaccess point.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the masterfemtocell access point comprises setting an IP address of the masterfemtocell access point and creating a cluster identifier for thefemtocell network cluster.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereintransmitting the master table to each of the plurality of femtocellaccess points informing them of the identity of the master femtocellaccess point comprises transmitting the IP address of the masterfemtocell access point and the cluster identifier of the femtocellnetwork cluster.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:periodically transmitting a synchronization update message to each ofthe plurality of femtocell access points including a copy of the mastertable indicating whether any changes in the femtocell network clusterhave occurred.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the changes in thefemtocell network cluster comprise any additions or deletions to theplurality of femtocell access points operating in the femtocell networkcluster.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving amessage at the master femtocell access point that a new femtocell accesspoint is attempting to register as a new member of the femtocell networkcluster.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: updating themaster table to include an entry of the new femtocell access point anddistributing the updated master table to each of the plurality offemtocell access points.
 8. An apparatus configured to operate afemtocell network cluster, the apparatus comprising: a processorconfigured to select a master femtocell access point among a pluralityof femtocell access points operating on the femtocell network cluster,and to update a master table to include the master femtocell accesspoint in the master table neighbor list; and a transmitter configured totransmit the master table to each of the plurality of femtocell accesspoints informing them of the identity of the master femtocell accesspoint.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein during the selection of themaster femtocell access point the processor is further configured to setan IP address of the master femtocell access point and a clusteridentifier for the femtocell network cluster and store the values in amemory.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the transmitter transmitsthe master table to each of the plurality of femtocell access points toinform them of the identity of the master femtocell access point and isfurther configured to transmit the IP address of the master femtocellaccess point and the cluster identifier of the femtocell networkcluster.
 11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the transmitter isfurther configured to periodically transmit a synchronization updatemessage to each of the plurality of femtocell access points including acopy of the master table indicating whether any changes in the femtocellnetwork cluster have occurred.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinthe changes in the femtocell network cluster comprise any additions ordeletions to the plurality of femtocell access points operating in thefemtocell network cluster.
 13. The apparatus of claim 8, furthercomprising: a receiver configured to receive a message at the masterfemtocell access point that a new femtocell access point is attemptingto register as a new member of the femtocell network cluster.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured toupdate the master table to include an entry of the new femtocell accesspoint and to distribute the updated master table to each of theplurality of femtocell access points.
 15. A non-transitory computerreadable storage medium configured to store instructions that whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to operate a femtocellnetwork cluster, the processor being further configured to perform:selecting a master femtocell access point among a plurality of femtocellaccess points operating on the femtocell network cluster; updating amaster table to include the master femtocell access point in the mastertable neighbor list; and transmitting the master table to each of theplurality of femtocell access points informing them of the identity ofthe master femtocell access point.
 16. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the selecting the masterfemtocell access point comprises setting an IP address of the masterfemtocell access point and creating a cluster identifier for thefemtocell network cluster.
 17. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein transmitting the master table toeach of the plurality of femtocell access points informing them of theidentity of the master femtocell access point comprises transmitting theIP address of the master femtocell access point and the clusteridentifier of the femtocell network cluster.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:periodically transmitting a synchronization update message to each ofthe plurality of femtocell access points including a copy of the mastertable indicating whether any changes in the femtocell network clusterhave occurred.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 18, wherein the changes in the femtocell network clustercomprise any additions or deletions to the plurality of femtocell accesspoints operating in the femtocell network cluster.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, furthercomprising: receiving a message at the master femtocell access pointthat a new femtocell access point is attempting to register as a newmember of the femtocell network cluster.